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Actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from the ABC daytime show “The View” after making controversial comments about the Holocaust.
“Effective immediately, I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments,” Kim Godwin, the ABC News president said.
“While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments,” she said. “The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities.”
The EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winner apologized on Twitter after the incident.
“On today’s show, I said the Holocaust ‘is not about race, but about man’s inhumanity to man.’ I should have said it is about both. As Jonathan Greenblatt from the Anti-Defamation League shared, ‘The Holocaust was about the Nazi’s systematic annihilation of the Jewish people — who they deemed to be an inferior race.’ I stand corrected,” she said.
“The Jewish people around the world have always had my support and that will never waiver. I’m sorry for the hurt I have caused. Written with my sincerest apologies, Whoopi Goldberg,” the host said.
And she began Tuesday’s show with another apology for what she had said.
“Yesterday on the show I misspoke. [The Holocaust] is indeed about race, because Hitler and the Nazis considered the Jews to be an inferior race,” she said.
She continued: “Now, words matter, and mine are no exception. I regret my comments and I stand corrected. I also stand with the Jewish people,” she said.
The entire situation began when, On Monday’s show, the “Sister Act’ actress said that the “Holocaust isn’t about race… it’s about man’s inhumanity to man.”
Co-host Ana Navarro attempted to correct her when she said, “But it’s about white supremacists going after Jews.”
But Goldberg, as she often does, interrupted her cohost, talked over her, and insisted that “these are two white groups of people! The minute you turn it into race it goes down this alley. Let’s talk about it for what it is. It’s how people treat each other. It doesn’t matter if you’re Black or white, Jews, it’s each other.”
She continued arguing her point when she appeared that same night on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
“I feel, being Black, when we talk about race, it’s a very different thing to me. So I said I thought the Holocaust wasn’t about race. And people got very angry and still are angry. I’m getting a lot of mail from folks and a lot of real anger. But I thought it was a salient discussion because as a Black person I think of race as being something that I can see,” she argued.
“So I see you and know what race you are. I thought it was more about man’s inhumanity to man. People said, ‘no, no, we are a race.’ I felt differently. I respect everything everyone is saying to me.”
“When you talk about being a racist, you can’t call this racism. This was evil. This wasn’t based on skin. You couldn’t tell who was Jewish. You had to delve deeply and figure it out,” she said.
“When the Klan is coming down the street and I’m standing with a Jewish friend – I’m going to run. But if my friend decides not to run, they’ll get passed by most times, because you can’t tell most times,” the host said.
“That’s what I was trying to explain. I understand not everybody sees it that way and I did a lot of harm to myself and people decided I was all these other things that I’m not. I get it, folks are angry, I accept that, and I did it to myself, and I’ll work hard to not think that way again,” she said.
The news comes days after it was announced that “The View” would be bringing back some old hosts to step in as they search for a new, permanent cohost, People reported.
Beginning in February, The View will be welcoming Meredith Vieira, Star Jones and Elisabeth Hasselback back to the table to guest co-host the show, PEOPLE can exclusively confirm.
The three women, who are among the show’s longest-running co-hosts, are making their return on separate dates throughout the month of February to celebrate the series’ landmark 25th season.
Vieira, 68, and Jones, 59, are two of the original cast members who held a seat at the table when The View premiered in August 1997. They both remained on the series until their departure during the ninth season in 2006.
Hasselbeck, 44, who established the conservative seat during her time on the show, served as a co-host from 2003 until 2013 during seasons 7-16. She also briefly returned in March 2020 for a guest appearance.
